


A Million Miles Away

by nobutigotcheezwhiz



Category: Pentatonix
Genre: F/M, M/M, Minor Scott Hoying/Original Female Character, Shipwreck au, Swearing, also sorry for the stupid title, but like not very graphic, i literally couldn't think of anything else, mild violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-10-16 07:06:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10566156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobutigotcheezwhiz/pseuds/nobutigotcheezwhiz
Summary: "So, we're just stuck here?!" Scott's voice was getting higher without him telling it to. "But- but I calculated the odds of this happening, they were like...one in a hundred thousand!" said Scott, running a hand through his hair."Yeah, well, it's happening, so your odds don't mean much anymore, nerd boy," deep-voice grumbled. "How about this: what are the odds we can get out of here alive?""Well, that depends. I'd need to survey the island for-""I didn't mean literally!" The man shouted.





	1. Background

**Author's Note:**

> I literally have no idea where this is going I came up with this idea  
> 2 hours ago please bear with me

"Scotty, I'll be fine!" Lisa giggled. "You're in Hawaii, you're on vacation! Enjoy yourself!"

"Okay, okay. I'll try to relax. I just...don't like being away from home," Scott Hoying sighed.

"I know. I don't like being separated either. But this will be good for you."

 _Not what I meant_ , thought Scott. He ran a hand through his hair. "I know, it'll help me unwind and not obsess over things so much, blah blah blah."

"Scott, honey-"

"Lisa, I have a tour boat leaving in half an hour, I really should be getting on right now."

Scott could hear Lisa sighing audibly. "You have time, baby. Is it hot in Hawaii?"

"Very. My shirt is sticking to me."

"Scott, tell me you're not wearing a suit again."

"I'm not!" Scott tugged at his white button-up. It was _not_ a suit. It was very casual. Odds of him dying due to heat stroke, exhaustion, or dehydration were low as long as he stayed hydrated. And with the amount of water he was carrying he could keep a hundred people hydrated. Well, that was exaggeration, really only ten our so. But if there were 10 people on board he would be golden.

"Scott? You still there?" Lisa was talking to him. Lisa was on the phone. He had almost forgotten.

"Yeah- listen, I really should go," Scott said.

"Okay, stay safe. I love you."

Scott cleared his throat. "Yeah. Bye."

***

"There are 2 super common species found around here, spiny lobsters and slippery lobsters. Yeah, those are their actual names. Super creative. I probably would've named one an Avi lobster if it had been me...wow, look at that crab!"

Avi Kaplan galloped along the beach towards the dock like a little kid, looking at all the crabs and starfish and plants. Marine life absolutely fascinated him, but especially one thing in particular: lobsters.

"Okay, lobster boy, you don't need to develop an obsession with crabs, too," Avi's sister Esther laughed.

Avi held up a finger. "Actually, crabs and lobsters aren't that far apart, they're both-"

"My bad, you already have," Esther stuck out her tongue at Avi, who slapped her playfully in return.

"If it weren't for my lobster obsession, you wouldn't even be here, so you're welcome," Avi said smugly.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry," said Esther sarcastically. "Thank you, Avi, for researching lobsters. I don't know what the world would do without people like you." Esther ran off quickly, with Avi close behind her.

Esther approached the dock and stopped. Avi stopped behind her. "You sure you don't want to join the tour? It's not to late."

"No way, no no no no no! You know how I feel about boats!" Esther said quickly.

"Just asking."

"I'll find something to do until you come back. How long is the tour?"

Avi shrugged. "No idea." He stepped up onto the dock.

Esther followed, holding tightly onto her brother's arm for support. "I don't think I like docks much more."

"Don't worry, I gotcha," Avi chuckled. "You know, you don't have to follow me the whole way."

Esther practically jumped back onto shore. "Okay, I won't leave town, so when you get back just come looking," she said. She waved.

Avi waved back. "See you soon!" He turned around to look for his tour boat.

***

Kevin Olusola wasn't sure why he had decided to bring his guitar. He didn't exactly need it to write the piece he was working on, he knew his chords and what they sounded like by ear. But he had brought it anyway, and was starting to regret it. The thing was heavy.

He made his way onto the boat. He was pretty sure this was the correct one, though there were only two people on it at the time. He was early, but he didn't think he was that early.

He went to the back where there were less people and spread out his sheets. He took his pen from his guitar case and began etching notes on his paper, muttering as he went along. "G...A minor...D...no, no, no, that's not right!"

"I thought I was the only one crazy enough to bring paperwork on a vacation."

Kevin looked up at a blond-haired man dressed obnoxiously fancy for a two-hour-long boat tour. He put down his pen. "Oh, it's not paperwork, it's a piece of music I've been working on."

"I see," said the man. "Is that how you make a living?"

"Well, yeah."

"It's paperwork," the man said, walking away.

Kevin gave the man a look. Why did he care? With a quick gesture he hoped the man hadn't seen, he picked up his pen again and began scratching out his previous work, once again not good enough for his own judgmental mind.

He hated the way his brain worked when it came to creative outlet. He would spend days working on one piece only to scrap it because it didn't click. And it looked like once again he would be living that routine.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his guitar to resume his "paperwork".

***

Mitch Grassi was completely lost.

In this dock full of ships, did they really expect him to find just one all on his own? No, of course not. No one should have expected Mitch to do anything on his own.

He checked his map one more time,  
squinting at the letters, before something hit him. He turned the map over.

He really needed to start wearing his glasses again.

After taking a millennia to figure out where he was and another millennia to find the tour boat he needed to be on, the map was as clear as day.

One would think that, after traveling as much as Mitch had, he would get the hang of silly things like maps. So far that had yet to happen. He approached the boat and compared it to the picture before folding his map up.

The first thing that caught his eye was the man sitting near the front with what looked like a purse next to him. He was cross-legged, the leg on the bottom bouncing nervously. He was dressed in a white dress shirt (how he could stand wearing that in this weather, Mitch had no clue whatsoever). But the only thing Mitch really cared about was how strikingly handsome he was.

Then he saw the man in front yelling something about a lobster over long, drawn out guitar chords and sighed. This would be a long two hours for him.

Although with Hot Guy on board it seemed worth every minute of his time.

He sat down right behind Hot Guy and debated whether or not he should say hi and make a fool out of himself or not. He quickly ruled out against it and decided it was better to be a creepy stalker.

***

Kirstie Maldonado felt a little bit bad for her camera as she snapped pictures left and right. The beach. The dock.  
The boat. She had taken a picture of every last square inch of everything. She had an excuse. It was her job.

She walked up the boat (after taking a couple pictures from multiple different angles) straight to the front. There was already a long-haired, bearded man up there, staring off the dock in amazement.

"It's very beautiful, isn't it?" She asked.

The man looked up. "Hmm?"

"The water," she clarified. "It's very beautiful, isn't it?"

The man looked around. "Yeah, it really is," he said as the camera flashed. "I was actually looking for lobsters, though."

"Oh?" asked Kirstie, not entirely interested.

"Yeah," he said, gazing off the side of the boat. "I'm actually researching their activity here."

"Oh, nice," she said. "I'm a photographer. I take pictures of stuff."

"Take a picture of a lobster and we're golden," said the man. Kirstie gave him an odd look, and he chuckled. "I'm sorry, that was funnier when I said it in my head. My name's Avi."

"I'm Kirstie," Kirstie replied. The two shook hands, and Kirstie went off to find whoever was making that beautiful music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't the first fic i've ever written but it's my first one on ao3 so congrats me !!!


	2. Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't go it's getting good i promise

" _Wow_ , look at that sky," Camera Girl sighed wistfully, snapping another picture.

"That's so weird," said Kevin, who had dropped his music to look around a bit. "It's completely clear, and then...almost black."

"Must be some storm or something," said Lobster Boy. (Yeah, Kevin had stupid nicknames for everyone in his head. They had introduced themselves, but he was bad with names)

"Doesn't feel like a storm," Kevin said, fanning his face with his shirt. It was hotter than he had ever thought possible.

"Hey, you think you have it bad," Lobster Boy whispered, "try being Mr. Business Casual over here. Seriously, what's his deal?"

Kevin looked over Lobster Boy's shoulder. Mr. Business Casual would have been another good name. He snickered. He still thought Paperwork was better.

"Have any of you guys realized that there's a kid behind him just kinda staring at him?" Camera Girl whispered.

"What?" Kevin asked, but sure enough Camera Girl was right. There was a boy behind him. Kevin took a good look before dubbing him Sunhat.

"He's just...staring," said Lobster boy. "What the hell...?"

The boat rocked to the left suddenly, sending the tourists toppling to the ground. Kevin watched Sunhat stumble off the bench, looking a little pale.

Once everyone was able to stand and regain their balance, Kevin walked over to Sunhat, who was camping out at the side of the boat. "You alright?"

Sunhat looked up in surprise. "I'm...alright," he said breathlessly. "Boats and I don't have a great history together."

Kevin nodded. The water was getting noticeably rougher since they had left the dock. The boat was starting to sway back and forth. Sunhat obviously wasn't taking that well.

Kevin walked back up front. Camera Girl clung to Lobster Boy's arm as if for dear life. "How is he so calm?" she shrieked, gesturing to Paperwork.

Paperwork looked up at the group, half-smiled, and shrugged before looking down again.

Camera Girl looked down at Lobster Boy's arm and let go. "Oh, whoops, I'm so sorry."

Lobster Boy laughed. "It's fine. My sister hates boats, I'm used to way worse."

The boat sharply rocked again, and Camera Girl grabbed his arm once more. "In that case..." she said nervously.

Sunhat, no longer wearing his sunhat which defeated the purpose of the name a little bit, made his way up to the front of the boat on wobbly legs. "Are we...supposed to be this far from the island? Last I checked this was a coastal tour..."

Kevin turned around. They were very far from shore and getting farther still. "I don't know..."

"Does anyone else feel rain?"

Everyone turned around. Paperwork stood up, studying what little of his arms had been exposed when he rolled up his sleeves. "Paperwork speaks," Kevin muttered.

"I feel it too!" Camera girl shouted.

"What the hell?" said Sunhat.

Kevin looked up. The dark clouds they had been commenting on earlier were now perfectly overhead. "Well, there's your problem."

The rain began coming down harder. "Let's get under cover," said Sunhat, racing for the covered area in the back of the ship. Everyone else followed suit except for Lobster Boy, who said he was going to try talking to the captain to see what was going on.

"Jesus," sighed Camera Girl. "Talk about crazy weather."

"I'm not liking the outlook here," Paperwork said quietly.

The 4 sat in silence, listening to the rain pour against the roof, until Lobster Boy came back. "The captain says there's a current veering us off course a bit but she should be able to fight it. And also there's a storm right above us."

"No really?" Sunhat chuckled.

"Should we be worried about aforementioned storm?" Paperwork asked.

Lobster boy shrugged. "She didn't say."

 _Encouraging_ , thought Kevin.

A crash sounded from the right side of the boat. Kevin stood up and looked out at the water. Waves were starting to form, and large ones at that. They were beginning to lap against and over the side of the boat.

"I think we should be worried," said Kevin, sitting back down.

"I'm sure we'll be alright," Lobster Boy reassured. "The captain said she's handling i-"

The rocking boat threw him off of his feet and he tumbled to the ground. " _Shit_!" he said under his breath.

"Are you okay?" Kevin asked, crawling to his side - the sea was way too rough to stand at this point.

"I'm fine," Lobster Boy said, dusting himself off.

A bright flash of light made it's presence, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. Kevin was pretty sure Sunhat and Camera Girl both screamed.

Camera Girl squeezed in between Lobster Boy and Paperwork. "I'm scared now," she said shakily.

Sunhat followed on the other side of Paperwork, and Kevin closes their circle. Water was spilling onto the deck, and because the covered area was still completely open, Kevin's legs were starting to get wet. He silently prayed to every God he knew existed.

"We'll be okay, I think," Paperwork reassured the 2 next to him.

" _I think_?" cried Sunhat.

Another flash. More thunder that made Kevin's ears ring afterwards. He could feel Sunhat shaking in fear next to him. Something cracked and he prayed it wasn't something important on the boat. Lobster boy mumbled a string of curse words. More lightning, more thunder, and another crack. Kevin only caught a glimpse of the cover crashing down on the 5 tourists before everything went black.


	3. Island

Avi's senses came back to him one by one. The first thing he felt was something coarse against his cheek. A roaring noise came after that, and eventually he worked up the strength to crack open his eyes. The world around him was bright, so bright he was forced to shield his eyes as he sat up. He looked down, because down was the only direction his sensitive eyes could look at this point.

Sand.

He sifted his hand through the sand underneath him, wet globs forming around the marks his fingers made that filled with water. He brought his gaze up, looking at the expanse of beach around him.

Where the hell was he?

Something wet lapped against his legs. He turned to look at the crashing waves in front of him.

An island. He was on an island.

The ship was about a hundred meters away from him, looking like, well, a wreck.

Waves crashed over him and he found himself pulled underwater for a few seconds before he shot up, sputtering and coughing. He spat at the waves.

He found himself trekking towards the boat without really telling himself to. He didn't know what he expected, there hadn't been anything on the boat, and there was no way that thing would be going anywhere.

He climbed up the front, which was almost completely buried in sand. It was hard to stay upright on the tilted boat.

He didn't remember much of the storm. He didn't even know how long it had been. A couple hours? Days? He had no idea. But according to the holes the boat sported, it had been intense.

Avi caught sight of the cover that had crushed them all. He didn't remember much after the cover. He didn't remember anything after the cover, really.

He lifted the cover up, ran his hand along the sharp edge. His eyes drifted along it until he caught sight of what was under it. He dropped it, cursed, picked it back up and leaned it against the back of the boat.

He crouched down next to the girl, who was unconscious. What had her name been? Kristine? Krissy? Something with a K.

He checked her for injuries, but aside from a few scrapes she seemed okay.

"Hey, K," he said, shaking her. "K. Wake up. Please," he added.

She groaned and sat up. "Wh...what...?" Suddenly she gasped. "What happened?"

"The storm? Remember?" Avi said softly.

"The storm...oh, God, are we...where are we?"

Avi looked around for a good while, looking for something, anything, that seemed familiar. His heart leapt into his throat when the realization hit him. "I...don't know."

The girl with the K name sat up. "Where are the others?"

"Don't know that, either," Avi replied. He felt sick to his stomach. Everything he had been trying not to think about was rushing to his head all at once and he didn't like it.

"Avi?"

Avi looked down. He was shaking. He could hear his heart pounding in his head. "I'm gonna...sit down..." he muttered, leaning back and sliding down against the cover he had propped up.

"We're gonna be okay," said K-Name. She didn't know that, though. She couldn't know for sure whether or not they'd be okay.

Neither could he, which kinda disproved his whole point.

"You think so?" He asked rather solemnly.

"Yeah. I do," she said. After a few minutes she held out a hand to help Avi, who accepted it gratefully. He dusted himself off and cleared his throat. He had to compose himself now.

"So what do y-"

"OH MY GOD!" K-Name shrieked, running towards the front of the ship.

Avi jumped, alerting his senses. What did she see? He looked around the island and the water, but saw nothing. "What? What is it?"

K-Name reached the front and bent down. "My camera!" She gasped.

Avi relaxed. "Jesus, I thought you saw an animal or something." He walked towards the girl, shaking his head.

"Avi! Avi, look! The lens is broken!" She wailed, shoving the camera in his face. "This was a good camera, dammit! I can't take pictures with this, I don't have another lens!"

"Let me see it," said Avi, gently taking it out of her hands. He rotated it around until he saw writing on one side. Kirstin Maldonado. Kirstie, that was her name.

Kirstie looked at Avi with wide eyes. "Can you fix it?"

Avi twisted it around in his hands a few times before handing it back. "Yeah, I don't know squat about cameras. Sorry," he said.

Kirstie looked about ready to cry. "That's okay..." she muttered.

Avi's gaze drifted until it caught something in the distance, the opposite way from where he had come. He put a hand on Kirstie's shoulder and pointed with the other. "Hey, do you see that?"

Kirstie stared for a while. "Oh...oh, do you think that's..."

"Another person? Maybe..."

The object got closer until it took the shape of a person. Avi started waving and yelling, prompting Kirstie to laugh. "What?" Avi asked, sounding hurt.

"They're walking to the boat anyway, you'll just scare them away!" Kirstie giggled. Avi pretended to pout.

The figure walked close enough that Avi could tell who it was: the boy with the pink floral shirt who looked like the epitome of a tourist. Had he ever gotten his name? No, he didn't believe so.

"Hey!" Avi yelled. The boy looked up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," he shouted back.

The boy's eyes wandered across the ship and he stopped in place. "Man, this boat's fucked."

Avi lowered himself down next to him and scanned the side of the vessel. "Whoa, you're not joking."

This side of the boat looked even worse. It was as if the entire side of the ship had been torn off, creating some sort of cavern underneath the boat. Small sunbeams shown through where holes had been made on top of the boat.

"Royally fucked," Kirstie added.

The boy walked closer to the boat and touched the metal.

"I wouldn't get so close to that if I were you," Avi warned.

"Oh, I'll be fine," the boy said dismissively, inching closer and closer until he was underneath the boat.

"Seriously, be careful!" called Avi.

"He'll be fine," Kirstie said.

There was a loud sound and the boy shrieked.


	4. Boat

Kirstie dashed inside the boat without a second thought, ignoring the warnings of Avi. Worrying that the man was in trouble, she called out: "Are you okay?"

She ran into something and fell over.

"I- I- I..." the something stuttered. "I'm okay, but..."

Kirstie jumped up and squinted in the dark, trying to get her eyes to adjust. She could make out the boy, but...

The camera. It was broken, but maybe it could work.

She fiddled with the camera's buttons until the screen eventually turned on, forcing her to squint even more. She tapped the small lightning bolt in the corner.

Flash.

Light.

Kevin was laying on the ground. He was just as cut up and bruised as the rest of them, but there was a nasty gash on his forehead that looked pretty bad, because even with the poor camera lighting there seemed to be a lot of blood.

"Avi!" Kirstie called. "Avi, get in here, please!"

"What's wrong?" Avi called back. "You guys, you should get out of there!"

Kirstie groaned and turned to the man. "We need to get him out of here!"

A loud crack sounded from the ceiling again, along with a sliver of light. "Ow!" The man yelped.

Kirstie, frustrated with the irresponsibility and indecisiveness of her newfound companions, rushed to Kevin's side and attempted to pick him up.

Between the camera and a general lack of strength, it didn't work.

The man bent down to help her and they were able to drag Kevin through the sand, though even their combined strength couldn't pick him up.

Another loud crack. More light. "What was that?" Kirstie whisper-asked.

"I hit my head on the boat and I think it's breaking," said the man.

Kirstie's eyes widened. "Avi!" She called again.

Avi rushed to their help when they were visible from the outside. With his strength they were finally able to lift Kevin off of the ground and got him out in the sun, his limp body swaying back and forth as he was carried. They set Kevin down a ways upshore.

"Is he gonna be okay?" The man asked.

"I think so," said Avi. "Worst case scenario he has like a concussion or something. But I'm not a doctor, so..."

Kirstie knelt down next to Kevin and his wound. It didn't look very nice, the blood from it dripping down the side of his face, getting in his hair. She wasn't a doctor either, but she knew this small wound could turn into something bad if they didn't take care of it soon.

There was a loud crash from the boat. Avi and the other man turned, but Kirstie didn't want to look.

Kevin groaned.

"Kevin?" Avi called. Kirstie shook his shoulder. Kevin muttered something about his head, then a lobster. He sat up and put a hand against his head, right where the cut was.

"Oh..." Kevin pulled his hand away and stared at the blood on his fingertips. "What the hell?"

"Kevin, Kevin. Are you okay?" Kirstie asked. Kevin squinted up past her face with distant eyes. His behavior worried her.

"The boat broke."

Kirstie turned around. He boat was, in fact, broken, the floor - the part the man she didn't know the name of had hit his head on - had crashed down and a cloud of sand surrounded it.

"Never mind that," she said. "Are you okay?"

The other man stood up and started walking back to the boat.

"The guy...the nerdy one...where is he?" Kevin went on.

"Kevin, I need you to stop-"

Kevin slapped a hand over his cut and eye, doubling over and hissing in pain.

"Oh, God, are you okay?" Kirstie asked for maybe the thousandth time.

"I...I'm fine..." Kevin grunted. "It just stings a little. I'll be fine."

"There's lots of blood," Kirstie argued.

"I'll wash it. It's fine. Just stings," Kevin repeated. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Well, we don't know where the captain is, or the tall guy, but everyone else is fine. As far as we know," said Avi.

Then the other man came back from the boat looking pale. Everyone, including Kevin, stood up. His eyes were fixated on the ground.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kirstie asked.

"Th...the...the captain..."

"You found her?" Kevin asked.

The man shuddered. "She's..."

"What?"

"She's dead!" He cried.

Everyone went silent.


	5. Names

Scott felt sick to his stomach as he looked at the beach around him. Not only was this an island, which on its own was bad enough and kind of crazy, but it was a small island. He had been able to walk from one end to the other in no time at all.

And that definitely had its drawbacks. A smaller island was less likely to be spotted, both by air and sea. It would have less resources to survive on. It would be hard to find someplace where he could just be alone.

He ran his thumb once again along the torn fabric of his shirt - a shame, really, it had been a nice shirt - and turned around. He had seen enough.

He clawed his way through bushes and vines and branches, very aware of his surroundings and attempting to make a mental map and yet lost in thought as always. Lisa was back at home, did she have any idea where he was? Would she be able to be on her own for however long he was stuck here? He had to get back, he had to find something - or someone - that could help him.

He patted his pocket again, making sure the phone that had no service and was of absolutely no use to him currently was still there. It was, broken screen and all.

He continued through the dense shrubbery and trees until he saw something in the distance. People, on a beach. His heart leapt in his chest. Civilization?

He crept through the bushes to get a better look, only to find that it was just those other people from the tour. Dammit.

He emerged from the bushes. Four heads turned and stared. He shifted uncomfortably. "...Hi?"

Finally, the girl stood up. "Thank God, we were thinking you hadn't made it-"

She went in for a hug, and Scott awkwardly dodged. "Well, uh...I'm alive, so..." He sat down. "I've been trying to find someone who can help. This place is pretty small though."

"I know," said one of the guys. He had a pretty nasty gash on the side of his head, one that Scott couldn't keep his eyes off of. "We all split up and looked around the island. It's small."

Something clicked in Scott's brain. "When you split up, did you...find anything? People? Signs of people?"

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Nothing?!"

"Do you think we'd all be sitting here doing nothing if we had found people?" said the man with the deep voice.

"So, we're just stuck here?!" Scott's voice was getting higher without him telling it to. "But- but I calculated the odds of this happening, they were like...one in a hundred thousand!" said Scott, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, well, it's happening, so your odds don't mean much anymore, nerd boy," deep-voice grumbled. "How about this: what are the odds we can get out of here alive?"

"Well, that depends. I'd need to survey the island for-"

"I didn't mean literally!" The man shouted.

"Hey, Avi, calm down," said the girl. Scott put his head in his hands. This was getting too much. He patted his pocket for his phone. Still there.

"Guys!" The other boy, who wasn't deep voice or dude with the cut in his head, stood up. Everyone went quiet. "What the hell do we think we're gonna accomplish like this?"

Cut dude stood up, too, and almost fell over.

"Kevin, sit down, you're gonna hurt yourself," said the girl, who apparently was the only one who knew everyone's names.

"He's right," said Kevin, ignoring the girl. "No matter what the odds of surviving are-" he shot pointed glances at Scott and the Avi dude "-we're definitely not going to if we keep this up. We need a plan."

The boy nodded. "So. Any ideas?"

No one said anything.

"Names would be nice," said Scott quietly. A murmur of agreement followed.

"I'll start," said Kevin. "My name's Kevin. I'm a musician, if you happen to recognize me." He chuckled. "You probably don't. I've lived in Louisiana all my life, and...I really need to sit down." Kevin lowered himself down into the ground slowly.

The girl stood up. "I'm Kirstie. I take pictures. Well, I did until my camera lens broke. I'm also on an island full of boys so if I end up still single by the time we get out of here I'll be very disappointed."

Avi didn't stand up for his introduction. "I'm Avi. I study lobsters and stuff. I live in Maine. Yeah."

The boy stood up. "My name is Mitch. I don't really have a job. I just travel a lot. I've been to 37 states and 13 countries." Everyone nodded in approval. "I'm also really gay but you guys probably could tell."

Then Scott found everyone staring at him and shifted uncomfortably. "Um...I'm Scott. I, uh...I live in Manhattan. I run uh...a business that manufactures and sells printers." He stared at the ground until he thought he wasn't being stared at. Mitch was still staring at him.

"Now what?" Kirstie asked.

"Oh! Well, it's like that show Survivor, right? We introduced ourselves, now we get to work on a shelter," Mitch said simply. Scott had no idea what he was talking about.

"Makes sense to me," said Avi.

Everyone stood up. Kevin was spouting instructions that Scott wasn't interested in. He thumbed one of the rips in his shirt. Was his phone still in his pocket? Yes, his phone was still in his pocket.

"Scott!" yelled Kevin. Scott snapped to attention. Kevin was rubbing his head. "Okay, that's your name. I don't know why I was thinking Preston."

"What do you want?"

"I want you and Mitch to find a place for the shelter. Make sure it's easy to find, although you shouldn't have to worry about that because this island is relatively small. Make sure it's open, too. With easy access."

Scott turned to find Mitch, who was standing behind him. Mitch looked away as soon as they made eye contact. He tripped over a rock.

Oh, great.

Scott walked up to him. "So..."

Mitch stood up and brushed himself off. "Off to find a camp?"

"Guess so."

Mitch immediately set off. "Well then let's go! Night comes soon, we don't have much time." Scott shook his head at the boy's energy.

Well, at least he still had his phone.


End file.
